You can already guess where I'm writing this from...

You guessed right: Detroit! Goddamn, this town sucks me back in like the bog surrounding the Legion of Doom's Darth-Vader-helmet headquarters. OK, here's the rundown for THIS trip...
I got to Newark for my flight (that airport needs some more fucking signs telling you where the fuck everything is) for my 7:55-10:00 flight into Detroit, connecting to Lansing, MI at 10:30. The flight is delayed until 8:30, giving exactly zero minutes connect time. And we knew, Beth and I both fucking knew, when I bought the ticket that this was exactly where the trip was going to go wrong. And it did. Now, I am in the center of the Delta/Northwest terminal looking around at half a dozen completely ghost town desks. Besides the blinking light telling me to see about my 'cnx' there ain't a fucking soul that's going to help me figure this shit out to be seen. I called useless customer service in lieu of anything better to do and was on hold for a good ten-fifteen minute stretch. Finally, a couple of agents show up, and of course take several minutes to get their equipment online. FUCK, I am thinking at the top of my brain's voice.
Now for the inevitable news: no way can I make the connection. Being as it was weather rather than overbooking, engine failure or other act of incompetence, they are not responsible for what happens to me next. Beth can't leave to pick me up until 10 pm (2 1/2 hour drive minimum) so I'm looking at a 1 am pickup and another 2 1/2 hours back on whatever shit weather Michigan decides to dump on us. Fuck that. I got a 'distressed travelers' rate on a hotel room in Detroit and we will stay there that night. Fine, all is good. Flight leaves, get to Detroit, go to hotel.

Hotel never received confirmation from booking agency. There are no rooms. Argh. They take me a few blocks away to another hotel (pictured above- that sign says 'No Lifeguard on Duty') and I am finally in a goddamn room. Hooray.

Upshot is Beth got here around 12:30 (hence the delay in this post- I'm going to blog while my long-distance girlfriend is waiting?) and we are together for the weekend. So, yes, it was worth it again. At least I don't have anymore vouchers tempting me to fly this shitty airline again.

P.S. Sorry for all the cursing. I prefer my elocution to read more eloquently. I was just really frustrated.

You can probably already guess from where I'm writing this.

You guessed right: Detroit! Goddamn, this town sucks me back in like the bog surrounding the Legion of Doom's Darth-Vader-helmet headquarters. OK, here's the rundown for THIS trip...

I got to Newark for my flight (that airport needs some more fucking signs telling you where the fuck everything is) for my 7:55-10:00 flight into Detroit, connecting to Lansing, MI at 10:30. The flight is delayed until 8:30, giving exactly zero minutes connect time. And we knew, Beth and I both fucking knew, when I bought the ticket that this was exactly where the trip was going to go wrong. And it did. Now, I am in the center of the Delta/Northwest terminal looking around at half a dozen completely ghost town desks. Besides the blinking light telling me to see about my 'cnx' there ain't a fucking soul that's going to help me figure this shit out to be seen. I called useless customer service in lieu of anything better to do and was on hold for a good ten-fifteen minutes stretch. Finally, a couple of agents show up, and of course take several minutes to get their equipment online. FUCK, I am thinking at the top of my brain's voice.

NOw for the inevitable news: no way can I make the connection. Being as it was weather rather than overbooking, engine failure or other act of incompetence, they are not responsible for what happens to me next.

Times when I find the word toy inappropriate

I have found multiple instances where the word 'toy' really doesn't feel like it belongs in a sentence through the years. There are places where the word is entirely superfluous, in my opinion. I think the grandest offender of these would have to be toy balloon. I feel certain this is a holdover from a bygone era when the line between the lung-filled, county-fair-won object of a child's momentary affection and the helium-filled, Hindenburgian-consequences danger of the manly world of balloon travel had to be clearly drawn. Certainly the twain should ne'er have met in the days of waxed mustaches accepted as the norm and society women brought down by a scandal over the lack of layers of petticoats. Harlotry and strumpetesousness, indeed! However, I think we can all agree that now, in our times of jet travel, astronaut meals and impending robot-spawned doom, we can retire the term 'toy balloon' safely. Even if you are an eccentric billionaire traveling the globe by dirigible you are still in a toy balloon. Without the word 'weather' in front of it I feel we are safe to assume the balloon is a toy.
The other one that I read today was toy Frisbee. Was the Frisbee not conceived and designed as a toy? Has the Frisbee ever had professional, intellectual or military applications, the existence of which I have yet to learn? I doubt this in all sincerity. I really see no need to add the word 'toy' to things widely known to be toys, i.e. toy yo-yo, toy doll, etc.

On a somewhat unrelated note, tomorrow I attempt to venture into that bane of all travelers, Michigan, once more. Wish me luck and Godspeed, please.

What's with the new glut of WWII movies? Also, New Year updated.

I am at Beth's place while she's off doing s bit of work to keep the world's cancers at bay. I decided to check out some more movie reviews to kill time as I have been amiss in keeping up with these lately. Defiance, Good, Valkyrie, The Boy In the Striped Pajamas...is there anything out besides movies about WWII and the Nazis right now? Is this just the release for Oscar season because nothing stirs award-giving sentiment like concentration camps? Is there anything really left to say about this period? It all sounds like boring rehash to me, save the trailer I saw for Valkyrie, which looked like one of the lost Grindhouse trailers. I hate the way these all release in waves so there's never much of any difference playing.

Anyway, blah, blah, Northwest's customer service isn't receiving calls today on the first day that they are open due to high call volume. So, odds are they fucked me out of New Year's Eve and I'll never even get to yell at anyone over it. Grrr...